Hong Kong's value of total exports of goods in August stood at 151.2 billion HK dollars (US$19.3 billion), up by 7 percent from that of a year earlier, the Census and Statistics Department said Friday.
Within the total, the value of re-exports rose 7.9 percent to 139.4 billion HK dollars (US$17.8 billion), but the value of domestic exports fell 2.4 percent to 11.8 billion HK dollars (US$1.5 billion), said the department in a report.
Concurrently, the value of imports of goods grew 6 percent over a year earlier to 152.9 billion HK dollars (US$19.6 billion), after a year-on-year increase of 5.6 percent in July.
Merchandise exports post further solid growth in August, yet the year-on-year rate of increase was smaller than in July, said the report.
It said that exports to some East Asian markets, including Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand, moderated more distinctly in growth or slackened to decline. Exports to the Chinese Mainland, Singapore, South Korea and Indonesia nevertheless maintained double-digit growth.
Concurrently, exports to the US showed a smaller decline, while exports to the European Union (EU) saw a further notable increase.
For the first eight months of 2003 as a whole, the value of total exports of goods rose 12.6 percent over the same period in 2002. Concurrently, the value of imports of goods also soared by 11.2 percent. A visible trade deficit of 36.4 billion HK dollars (US$4.6 billion), accounting for 3.2 percent of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in the first eight months of 2003.
This was smaller than the corresponding deficit of 45.2 billion HK dollars (US$5.8 billion), accounting for 4.4 percent of the value of imports of goods, recorded in the same period in 2002,said the report.
It said that comparing the three-month period ending August with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of total exports of goods rose marginally, by 0.1 percent; meanwhile, the value of imports of goods increased 0.3 percent.
(People’s Daily September 27, 2003)
